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Art & Culture

various essays on, well, art and culture

Bookbinding & Conservation

lessons learned from this profession

Humor

ok, I'm not the guy from SNL,
but I still have a sense of humor

'Jim Downey' Stories

mostly true stories from my
adolescence

Personal Essays

more "it's all about me"

Politics

I’m at -7.13/-7.33 on The Political Compass.  Where
are you?

Society

Gun Violence
We Create the Meaning
The Secret to Success
Holy Writ & the Motion of the Sun
Vengance
The Car
The Mayor of Main Street
Smokin'

Travel

take a trip with me

19 January 2005


Holy Writ & the Motion of the Sun

The 29th December edition of The Economist (OK, so I’m a little behind on my reading . . .) had an interesting piece called "Holy Writ: Why people of the book have such trouble with language, truth and logic." You can find it here if you have a subscription (if not, and you want to see it, ask and I'll email the story to you).  Anyway, it was an analysis of the role that critical thinking plays (or doesn't) within different religious traditions.

And within this article was a reference that I just had to check out.  It seems that there's an element of the Creationist movement here in the US which actually believes and is trying to promote the idea that the Earth does not revolve around the Sun, but rather that modern astronomy is wrong and The Bible is correct.  No, seriously.  This is a basic premise of all Creationist and evangelical belief:  that when science or common sense are contrary to The Bible, then there must clearly be something wrong with that science or common sense.

Let's all step back about 400 years, before Copernicus and Galileo, when the church still had the final say.  Take a look for yourself:  http://www.geocentricity.com/ or http://www.fixedearth.com/


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